Mississippi: Wage Garnishment Limits
The short answer
Mississippi writes the plain federal formula directly into its own statute: after an initial 30-day period during which wages can't be touched at all, a creditor can take the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount by which earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage. The 30-day full exemption from the date of service is Mississippi's real distinguishing feature — most states start withholding immediately. There's no head-of-household wage exemption. Competing garnishments are paid in the order served (smallest first if two arrive the same day), except a child-support garnishment, which always wins and isn't subject to the 30-day wait. Only the federal one-garnishment anti-discharge rule protects an employee; Mississippi's own anti-discharge statute covers only child-support withholding.
Ask Ezel about your situation
This is the general rule in Mississippi. Ezel applies current Mississippi law to your specific facts and answers with citations to the statutes.
| Governing law | Wage garnishment cap and 30-day grace period, Miss. Code § 85-3-4; multiple-garnishment priority, § 11-35-24; garnishment procedure chapter, §§ 11-35-1 et seq. |
|---|---|
| Maximum that can be garnished | After an initial 30-day period in which wages are fully exempt from the date of service (§ 85-3-4(1)), the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount by which earnings exceed 30x the federal minimum hourly wage (§ 85-3-4(2)) — the plain federal formula, restated directly in Mississippi's own statute |
| State rule vs. federal floor | Restates the federal 25%/30x formula as state law rather than cutting it further; Mississippi's real addition isn't a lower percentage but a procedural one — no wages at all can be taken for the first 30 days after service of the writ (§ 85-3-4(1)) |
| Minimum-wage protected floor | 30x the federal minimum hourly wage — $217.50/week at $7.25/hour — the plain federal multiplier, written directly into § 85-3-4(2)(a)(ii) rather than cross-referenced |
| Support, tax & student loan debts | Support orders and state or local tax debt fall entirely outside the ordinary cap and the 30-day grace period (§ 85-3-4(3)(a)); support garnishments instead follow the federal support tiers — 50% (55% with 12+ weeks of arrears) if supporting another spouse or child, 60% (65% with arrears) if not |
| Head-of-household/family exemption | No wage-specific head-of-household exemption. Mississippi's separate $10,000 aggregate personal-property exemption (Miss. Code § 85-3-1(a)) covers tangible property like vehicles and household goods, not earnings, and doesn't turn on head-of-household status |
| Multiple garnishments at once | First-in-time, with two refinements: a garnishee served with more than one garnishment on the same employee satisfies them in the order served; if two arrive the same day, the smaller amount is paid first; a child-support garnishment always has first priority regardless of when it arrived or whether an earlier garnishment is already in effect (Miss. Code § 11-35-24) |
| Protection from being fired | No independent Mississippi statute protects an employee from discharge over an ordinary judgment garnishment — only the federal rule applies (bars discharge for a single garnishment, 15 U.S.C. § 1674). Mississippi separately bars firing, disciplining, or refusing to hire an obligor because of a child-support income-withholding duty, backed by a court fine of up to $50 (Miss. Code § 93-11-111(9), penalty at § 93-11-117(2)), but that protection is limited to child support and doesn't extend to ordinary creditor garnishments |
Compare this rule across all 50 states + DC →
Requirements one by one
Governing law
Mississippi's wage-garnishment cap and its distinctive 30-day grace period
both live in one section, Miss. Code § 85-3-4. The procedural garnishment
chapter is separate, §§ 11-35-1 et seq., and includes its own rule for
resolving competing garnishments at § 11-35-24.
Maximum garnishment amount
For the first 30 days after a writ of attachment, execution, or garnishment
is served, wages can't be touched at all (§ 85-3-4(1)). After that, the
maximum that can be withheld is the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or
the amount by which earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum hourly wage
(§ 85-3-4(2)) — the same formula federal law sets, simply written into
Mississippi's own code.
Federal floor comparison
Mississippi doesn't cut the federal percentage or raise the minimum-wage
multiplier the way some states do; § 85-3-4 restates the federal 25%/30x test
almost word for word. The one place Mississippi is genuinely more protective
is procedural, not mathematical: the 30-day full exemption in § 85-3-4(1)
gives a debtor time to negotiate, contest, or otherwise respond before any
money actually leaves a paycheck — most states start withholding on the first
paycheck after service.
Minimum wage protection floor
30 times the federal minimum hourly wage — $217.50 a week at the $7.25
federal rate — written directly into § 85-3-4(2)(a)(ii) rather than
cross-referenced to federal law.
Priority debt exceptions
Court-ordered support and state or local tax debt are excluded from both the
ordinary percentage cap and the 30-day grace period entirely (§ 85-3-4(3)(a)).
Support garnishments instead follow their own federal tiers: up to 50% of
disposable earnings if the debtor is supporting another spouse or child (55%
if arrears are 12+ weeks old), or up to 60% if not (65% with old arrears).
Head-of-household exemption
Mississippi has no wage-specific exemption for a debtor supporting a family.
Its separate personal-property exemption — up to $10,000 in tangible items
like vehicles, household goods, and tools of the trade (§ 85-3-1(a)) —
protects property, not earnings, and doesn't depend on head-of-household
status.
Multiple garnishments priority
Mississippi uses first-in-time priority with two refinements. A garnishee
served with more than one garnishment against the same employee must satisfy
them in the order served; if two writs arrive the same day, the smaller
amount is paid first. Child support always wins regardless: a court-ordered
child-support garnishment has first priority even over an earlier ordinary
garnishment already in effect (§ 11-35-24).
Employee termination protection
There's no independent Mississippi statute protecting an employee from
discharge over an ordinary judgment garnishment — only the federal rule
applies, barring discharge for a single garnishment for one debt
(15 U.S.C. § 1674). Mississippi does separately bar an employer from
discharging, disciplining, or refusing to hire someone because of a
child-support income-withholding duty, backed by a court fine of up to $50
(§ 93-11-111(9), penalty at § 93-11-117(2)) — but that protection is limited
to child support and doesn't extend to an ordinary creditor's garnishment.
What trips people up
Don't assume the 30-day grace period means no garnishment order was issued —
it just means the employer must keep paying full wages during that window
while the debtor decides how to respond. And don't assume Mississippi's
percentage is lower than the federal one just because the state added its own
statute — § 85-3-4 restates, rather than cuts, the federal 25%/30x formula, so
the real number is identical to what federal law would require anyway.
Common questions
If my wages are garnished in Mississippi, when does the withholding actually
start?
Not until 31 days after the writ is served on your employer — the first 30
days are a full exemption under § 85-3-4(1).
Does Mississippi protect more of my paycheck than federal law does?
Not on the percentage — the 25%/30x formula in § 85-3-4(2) mirrors the
federal test exactly. The extra protection is the 30-day delay before any
withholding can begin.
I already have one garnishment — can a second creditor jump ahead of it?
No, unless it's for child support. Otherwise garnishments are paid in the
order served under § 11-35-24, and a second creditor's writ waits until the
first is satisfied.
Statutes and sources
- Miss. Code § 85-3-4 — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-85/chapter-3/section-85-3-4/ (accessed 2026-07-05)
- Miss. Code § 11-35-24 — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-11/chapter-35/section-11-35-24/ (accessed 2026-07-05)
- Miss. Code § 93-11-111(9) — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-93/chapter-11/orders-for-withholding/section-93-11-111/ (accessed 2026-07-05)
- Miss. Code § 93-11-117(2) — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-93/chapter-11/orders-for-withholding/section-93-11-117/ (accessed 2026-07-05)
- Miss. Code § 85-3-1(a) — https://law.justia.com/codes/mississippi/title-85/chapter-3/section-85-3-1/ (accessed 2026-07-05)
- 15 U.S.C. § 1673 — https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2011-title15/USCODE-2011-title15-chap41-subchapII-sec1673 (accessed 2026-07-05)
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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